1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an emergency alert signaling method and digital television receiver. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for providing information associated with an emergency to a user quickly and efficiently in the terrestrial broadcasting.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, natural disasters including an unexpected earthquake, a flood and the like or emergency situations including a terror, incendiarism and the like are frequently take place. Moreover, damages caused by the natural disaster due to an environmental pollution or by the terror are widely expanded and their spreading effects get more powerful.
In case that the above-illustrated emergency takes place, a terrestrial broadcasting station collects data of the emergency, adjusts the collected data and then sends news relating to the emergency in a format of a newsflash or the like after duration.
In case that the emergency takes place, almost every terrestrial broadcasting station transmits the newsflash to broadcast news associated with the emergency to viewers.
However, in operating the emergency alert system for the emergency in the terrestrial broadcasting, the related art has the following problems.
First of all, all channels of the terrestrial broadcasting simultaneously broadcast the almost similar newsflashes. Hence, it is undesirable in aspect of the efficient management of the terrestrial broadcasting.
Secondly, as mentioned in the above description, if all channels of the terrestrial broadcasting simultaneously broadcast the almost similar newsflashes, viewers located in an area having nothing to do with the emergency are unable to watch regular terrestrial broadcasts.
Thirdly, each broadcasting station collects the news data associated with the emergency at a different speed. Hence, a time point of delivering the news associated with the emergency to a viewer at the first time depends on what kind of channel the viewer is watching.